Monday, December 13, 2004

Have a blue Christmas, thanks to BuyBlue.org

In the wake of November 2nd, a lot of once and future voters are feeling BLUE in what may feel like a sea of RED. And many are wondering how to feel proud and feel empowered.

One fun way to get back in the partisan fray is to join the oh so capitalist sport of boycotting and putting your money where your mouth is.

With this in mind, this holiday season, BuyBlue.org tells you which major companies went blue or red with their campaign contributions. So you, too, can stop seeing so much red and instead "buy blue."

'Tis the season, so become a smart shopper - be true to the blue.

Go to buyblue.org, and click on the "Have a Blue Christmas" link to see a list of corporations that appear in either the red or blue columns depending on how each donated a majority of its campaign contributions.

This gives the phrase "blue light special" a whole new meaning.

Exxon and Chevron/Texaco went red, Shell went blue.

Wal-Mart/Sam's Club went red, Price Club/Costco went blue. Many of us have been boycotting Wal-Mart for years. Back in 1993, Newsweek published a letter of mine concerning Wal-Mart's evil deeds, and it seems in the decade since then, Wal-Mart has only gotten more aggressive in its efforts to shortchange its low wage workers and keep Chinese factories churning out cheap (and sometimes shoddy) goods.

Chili's went red, Sonic went blue.

Southwest Airlines went red, Jet Blue went blue.

Safeway went red, Whole Foods went blue.

Unfortunately for department store fans, almost all went red. (No word at Buy Blue on Dayton-Hudson, parent company of Target and Mervyn's, but Dayton-Hudson is the most generous of all major American corporations to good charities and is generally seen as a more progressive company than its major competition.)

Fortunately for us book store lovers, both Barnes & Noble and Borders went blue - and you can bet most of the independents went blue, too. No word on Amazon for you surfing shoppers.

If you happen to boycott a company for any reason, be sure to let them know. Those drops in the global bucket add up.

About Me

"A Better Nation" is home to Lawrence's political punditry, cultural commentary, and personal essays.
Lawrence holds a master's degree in American Civilization (interdisciplinary cultural history) from the University of Texas at Austin, has served as a research assistant for history texts and a PBS television series, and has directed scores of adventure travel tours across the U.S. All content Copyright Lawrence Walker, 2004-2009.